Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali Falih Al-Zaidi has directed oil companies operating in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan to resume operations beginning on Thursday, as OPEC’s second-largest producer scrambles to export crude with the Strait of Hormuz de facto closed.
At a meeting with executives from oil companies operating in Kurdistan and top officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Al-Zaidi directed companies to restart activities on Thursday, “emphasizing the importance of joint action and the provision of an appropriate operating environment and essential requirements to support their work,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Norway-based DNO, one of the top international producers in Kurdistan, halted operations immediately after the Iran war began. But following the early-April ceasefire, DNO on April 9 restarted field operations, including workovers of existing wells, and re-launched its previously announced eight-well drilling campaign in preparation for resumption of production from the Tawke and Peshkabir at stepped-up rates.
Kurdistan’s oil supply could boost Iraq’s exports, which have crumbled from the key southern port of Basrah since the Strait of Hormuz was closed more than three months ago. Oil from Kurdistan and from fields in northern Iraq is being shipped for exports via a pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan and could become a lifeline for Iraq’s economy amid plunging exports from Basrah and the Strait of Hormuz.
Iraq’s PM Al-Zaidi “noted that the damage sustained by Iraq as a result of the disruption of oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz had been significant, underscoring the need to intensify efforts to offset those losses by addressing the challenges hindering increased production,” his media office said in a statement.
Iraq plans to triple within three months its pipeline exports of crude oil through Kurdistan to Ceyhan as OPEC’s second-largest producer is one of the Middle East’s producers worst affected by the closed Strait of Hormuz.
The Iraqi government this week approved a plan to hike crude exports to Ceyhan and onto international markets from the Mediterranean to 770,000 barrels per day (bpd), up from about 220,000 bpd now.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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